Author Archive

Things always take longer than you think they will. With that in mind I am so glad to be able to say that my romance novella, Midnight In Orlando, is finally available. I really had a ball writing it, tentatively dipping my toe into the already teeming waters of lesbian romance fiction. I hope readers enjoy it!

I’m wrapping up all the final little details on my romance novella. Fingers crossed that I can get it out before 2013! One big hurdle has been jumped though and that is the cover. Endless thanks to Alexandra for doing such a wonderful job on this!

When I was about nine, my dad got transferred and we were having to move. One of the houses we looked at was this dilapidated old farm house with peeling paint, broken windows and an old barn – a perfect place for me finally have a horse! For some reason, my parents weren’t as keen on the house. But of all the houses we looked at, that one, for some reason, has always stayed in my memory. So, I placed it in West Virginia instead of Ohio, and let my imagination go with the stories it could have told.

What genre does your book fall under?

General dramatic fiction, or perhaps historical fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I’m honestly not sure. I describe the characters in the book, but they’re not based on anyone I know or can picture, so I have no idea.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When her father goes MIA in the summer of 1968, ten-year-old Connemara moves with her mother and brother to her mother’s family home where she discovers that her family is living under a curse only she can break.

What is the longer synopsis of your book?

Here’s the back cover blurb:

1968 – a year of upheaval for the nation and for the Mitchell family. When her father goes MIA in Vietnam, ten-year-old Connemara and her family move to West Virginia and into her mother’s ancestral home – a neglected house whose walls hold old secrets of forbidden love and knowledge of things best forgotten.

For reasons she does not yet understand, Conn is chosen as the one who must unravel the mystery surrounding her ancestor, Caitríona Ní Faolain, who disappeared soon after the Civil War – a mystery that has condemned her family to a curse for over a hundred years.

Set during two of the most turbulent periods of American history, this story takes the reader on an epic journey through time as Conn delves deeper and deeper into her family’s past in order to end the curse before it is passed on to a new generation. Along the way, she teaches the adults around her something of the enduring power of love and hatred – and the terrible price of redemption.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Miserere is my first self-published release under my new imprint, Corgyn Publishing.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Probably about three years. I stopped work on this story when another captured my attention, and then came back and finished it in May of 2011.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I’m of Irish descent myself, and I’ve always been fascinated by the circumstances that forced so many from their homes to a new country – like the two teenage sisters in my story, sold by their father to be servants in America. I’ve lived in West Virginia and now Virginia where Civil War history is still very much a part of the geography and the mindset of the people who live here. This story was a way of combining those elements.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There are so many elements blended together in this story – history, adventure, mystery, romance, family connections, the struggle for freedom. It’s also a coming of age story, something that happened entirely by accident. If I’d had a story like this to read when I was twelve or thirteen, it would have made a powerful impact on me. This book really is a bit of a roller coaster, and I hope readers enjoy the ride!

Thanks to Barrett for tagging me! My new work is a novella. It will probably weigh in at about 35000 words. I hope to have it out by the end of December or early January.

What is the working title of your book?

Midnight In Orlando.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was riding the train from New York to DC. Being alone on a train is very conducive to developing writing ideas. Something about it just kickstarts the brain. I wrote the first chapter or so of what would become Midnight in Orlando on that trip. I think we had just passed Trenton and I imagined a woman taking the train from Trenton to Baltimore and just went with it.

What genre does your book fall under?

Romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I have no idea. I try not to imagine such things since it would be distracting to have an actor’s face in my head as I am thinking about character.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

You just never know what will happen in Orlando.

What is the longer synopsis of your book?

Ugh, I hate this part. This is completely off the cuff…

Susan Voight needs a vacation. A work-a-holic lawyer from Baltimore whose career just took a step in the right direction, Susan discovers there is an entire online world devoted to her favorite diversion — lesfic. Throwing caution to the wind, she buys a ticket to the annual lesfic conference in Orlando. All she wants is to eat, drink and sleep books. But somewhere in the back of her mind she has a tiny hope that she just might meet someone.

Nic Green has been writing lesfic for a decade. She has used it to both combat her (mostly invented) neuroses and avoid real life. She decides it is high time she met some of her readers. But at her first lesfic conference, she might not be as ready for the life the of the public author as she thinks she is. But then she meets Susan…

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self-published.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I don’t remember but I would say a couple of months. I keep meaning to keep track of how many actual hours I work on something.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I attended the GCLS conference three times in Orlando. It is such a great environment for writers and readers to get together. I thought, What could be a better place for a romance than a romance conference?

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

This is much lighter fiction than I have ever attempted. For me, not going heavy can be difficult. There was a paragraph in the first draft of this manuscript that I knew I had to strike when my first reader laughed out loud when she read it. Not because it was funny but because I had a character go to a very dark place in what is really a light romance. I think I have succeeded in excising the heaviness. I hope readers will find this romance fun and amusing.

Caren Werlinger, you’re it! She will be answering questions here at my site next week. I’m very excited to hear about Caren’s new novel!

One of the great things about writing novels is that you as the writer get to decide what goes. You determine who your characters are, what they think, where they live and ultimately, yes, whether they live or pass on to the great hereafter, a torturous nether world or nothing at all.

In a similar way, I have decided that from this moment forward this blog is no longer a blog (which requires lots of regular posting) but a website. Yes, I will still post occasionally and there will still be a date glowering in the corner but since it is a website and not a blog, no one, i.e. me, has to feel guilty.

So here is what I’ve been up to since March. (March!!)

I have been to a bunch of opera in HD. That means I have been watching opera in a movie theater instead of an opera house. It doesn’t mean that I don’t become impossibly sleepy at some point during the production. But it does mean that I can smuggle in a quart of coffee and a bag of PopChips (BBQ only, please) which makes the opera much more endurable. Sleeping at the opera is a time-honored tradition so I have decided not to feel guilty about that either.

I had a trip to the Eastern Shore for my friend Amy G’s birthday. I couldn’t find my camera but other people were snapping pictures and here is one of the 2 Amys:

It was a great weekend full of celebration and fun and it was so nice to get away for a few days to beautiful Oxford, Maryland which is totally gorgeous and adorable. This is the great house we stayed in:

There’s been loads and loads of other things too — reunions and Passover and graduations and graduation parties and babies and beer-making and visits from friends and triathlon completion celebrations (not mine though!) and a great trip to New Orleans. So, sum total, it has been a very busy year. But, the novella I keep mentioning is very nearly done. And I really mean it this time!